Construction makes students wait
Motorists frustrated by construction delays on University Drive will have to wait at least four months before traffic blockades disappear.

Traffic delays at University Drive and College Avenue probably will continue through the end of the semester to accommodate construction on the new ASU Foundation building, said Robert Green, project manager for McCarthy Building Company. The building is being built at the northeast corner of the intersection.

The two candidates on the March 9 ballot are Dennis Cahill and Hugh Hallman. Cahill has been a Tempe resident for the past 50 years and a city councilman since 1992. Hallman is a lifetime Tempe resident and was a city councilman from 1998 through 2002.

Vincent Richard Froio was killed Dec. 20, said Kay Hartley, owner of Hartley Funeral Homes in Cicero, Ind. The funeral home held services for Froio. Student Life announced his death earlier this month to the ASU community.

Fee increase hikes law-school tuition
Special program fees for the College of Law will increase in fall 2004, raising tuition and fees for law students by close to $1,500. The Arizona Board of Regents approved the increase in a meeting at ASU on Friday. New students currently pay $5,750 in fees, and continuing students pay $4,250.

Police Beat: Ruby Tuesday gets a new dishwasher
A 45-year-old Tempe man was arrested on a charge of theft near the 0 block of East University Drive. After entering Ruby Tuesday, the man ordered $12.14 worth of food and ate approximately half of it before the restaurant management realized he had no money.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

From Manzanita to TV stardom
For 20-year-old marketing junior Erica Dermer, meeting cute boys has finally paid off. It led to a free trip to New York City, an appearance on TV and a column in Jane magazine. Dermer is a self-described "camera hog" who said she wants to turn her love of music into a career in the music and entertainment business.

Films of 2003: 'Rings' is king, 'Gigli' still a disaster
For the most part, 2003 was exactly the same as every year at the movies. The better part of 12 months brought us nothing special, in particular. Every once in a while, there was a nugget of hope or a hidden surprise. These were found primarily in comedies such as Elf, School of Rock and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Review: 'Seinfeld' co-creator strikes gold with 'Enthusiasm'
For those of you who aren't lucky enough to get HBO, including all of those in the dorms and some of you at home, I can only hope to capture the brilliance of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" in this review. The show is one of the funniest comedies to ever grace a television screen.

Review: 'Butterfly Effect' flighty
If you could go back into your past and change one thing, what would it be? Everyone has some moment from their past that changed their lives forever. Everyone wonders what could be different if they said something else or made another choice. The question is: if we could change the past would we be prepared to deal with the consequences? Would we be ready to handle the chain of events set off by the simplest actions? This thought has captured the imaginations of film makers for ages, and countless movies from Back to the Future to Time Machine have brought us depictions of how messy attempting to change the past can get.

Last man standing: Long Wong's on Mill
Every town has a bar to remember - a bar that is a bit smelly, a bit run down and a bit out of the ordinary. Every time you walk through the doors of this bar, whether you were there just last night or not since last year, it is a reunion of family, friends and lovers.

The name game: Cajun House or the Venue?
The Wailers are scheduled to play at the Venue of Scottsdale on Jan. 30, but where or what is that place exactly? The Venue of Scottsdale was formerly known by the established name, The Cajun House.

Angry fans flooded John and his wife, model Elaine Irwin-Mellencamp, with bomb threats and obscene phone calls because of the unpatriotic lyrics. Irwin-Mellencamp responded to the press, "I don't understand why people think it's not OK to question the government. I really don't."

The men of women's basketball
The ASU women's basketball team is tied for third place in the Pac-10 standings. Their success can be attributed to the efforts of the players, coaches and the guys who practice with them - except these guys aren't on the men's basketball team.

Scout teams, which are volunteer teams formed to practice against the girls, are an integral part of the women's basketball program. The practice team usually consists of a group of guys (and sometimes former members of the women's team) who practice with the ladies to help improve their game. Currently in its eighth season, the program has proved to be a helpful tool.

Wear It: Buckle Up
Seatbelts are not just for saving lives anymore. Purses created from seatbelts are popping up on the arms of local fashionistas, and it appears, this spring, safety will take a backseat to fashion as the seatbelt's primary function. With a variety of styles that come in more than 10 colors and clever names, such as "Ferrari Red" and "DeLorean Silver," it is easy to see why the purse has revved the engines of many local hipsters.

Skip It: Big Bang is a Bomb
Taking the challenge of replacing Beeloe's Bar and Restaurant's underground location on Fifth Street and Mill Avenue is quite commendable for Tempe's new piano bar, The Big Bang. However, standing up to this challenge is something quite different. The Big Bang features dueling piano players who incorporate musical talent with various voice inflections and audience participation to recreate decades of radio music.

Don't I Know You? When the crossword is too hard...
So here we go again, another semester chocked full of strange folk, unbelievable characters and the occasional weirdo. But since school just started, I didn't have time to scour campus for my diamond in the rough.

Atta Bui: Take IT or leave IT
Welcome back to a new semester of classes, but more importantly, welcome back to a new semester of wholesome (or not so wholesome) SPM fun. Some new things have happened to our publication since you beautiful students fled far from campus to bask in the glory of winter break.

OPINIONS

Editorial: Take back Tempe, register to vote
Monday night, the candidates for mayor of Tempe expounded on their views on issues affecting this city. As ASU and Tempe would have difficulty existing without one another, the University was at the forefront of the discussion. But you wouldn't have believed it because no ASU students were in attendance.

Postwar Iraq not well-oiled
A broken toy is hard to fix, and Iraq is certainly broken. In three weeks our armed forces smashed through Saddam Hussein's army, killed his awful sons and stormed the capital, Baghdad. A few moments later, Saddam himself was in custody. That was easy.

God key to American elections
Nothing polishes up a tarnished image like a healthy dose of God. Separation of church and state? Forget it. Profess your faith loudly and often, fitting it into speeches ranging from Medicare to the federal budget. Compare yourself to various parts of the scripture even if the correlation is imaginary.

MTV saves marriage from big fat FOX
Big. Fat. Obnoxious. No, these aren't exactly the words that my last date used to describe me. They are, however, part of the FOX network's newest attempt to mingle reality and scripted TV into a fusion of dysfunctional wedding fun in "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé."

Talk Back: 'Talking Heads' makes 'Ziggy' look like 'Garfield'
"'Talking Heads' is the worst comic ever. It's worse than 'Ziggy.' It's nothing but visual flatulence from a small-minded white male about small-minded white males for small-minded white males. The artwork is sub-mediocre. The content is lowbrow and reveals nothing but the cartoonist's own racism and homophobia.

Letters to the Editor: Improve academics, not SRC
I have had it with the people who whine about how we need these expensive additions to the Student Recreation Complex and Memorial Union. Unlike some of these people writing in, I don't have mommy and daddy paying for my tuition and other numerous costs for attending a university.

Party hearty: alternative political parties
"Why should young people vote when none of the candidates support issues that are important to them?" Alex Terzis asks. 2004 marks the first presidential election the 20-year-old pre-business sophomore can take part in; but will he? The presidential election fast approaches as jaded young Americans like Terzis scurry to find an umbrella of causes to stand under.

WEB EXTRA

This week: Much ado about a yelp
Presidential hopeful Howard Dean's yelping noise was the big national story from last week. Give me a break. I refuse to completely give in to the feeding frenzy of criticism about that noise. Instead, I'll just make a joke about it.

SPORTS

W Tennis: Sun Devils court new faces
Four of the ASU women's tennis team's top six players, including four-time All-American Adria Engel, graduated at the end of last season. Engel leaves the Sun Devils as the school's all-time leader in wins at 130, but head coach Shelia McInerney hopes at least one heir apparent is already in place for her team.

Devil Dish: Suns' trade wasn't so bad after all
As news of the Suns' trade of Stephon Marbury surfaced, I was skeptical to say the least. Without Marbury, the Suns looked destined to be a cellar-dweller for not only this season, but also the foreseeable future. Then came the emergence of Leandro Barbosa.

A force to be reckoned with
While the ASU men's basketball team's success has been limited this season, the only consistently bright spot has resided in the soles of the size-18 shoes of the one of the most highly touted sophomores in college basketball.

Ikechukwa Somotochukwa Diogu, more affectionately known as "Ike" around campus and on the fronts of T-shirts, has enjoyed the challenge of trying to take an inexperienced, underachieving team back to the NCAA Tournament.

Baseball Preview: Cougars hope to be more competitive
After five straight years in the cellar of the Pac-10, the Washington State baseball team will be fighting an uphill battle once again. Last year, the Cougars struggled in the Pac-10, limping to a 7-17 conference record. The mark was the best record the Cougars have posted in Pac-10 play since the merger of the Pac-10 northern and southern divisions in 1999.

Face in the Crowd: Making a difference in the student section
Being a basketball fan at a Pac-10 school not named Arizona, UCLA, or Stanford can be frustrating. Traditionally, this conference does not have a history of basketball rivalries or strong programs, with the exception of the schools listed above. And when I say history, I'm looking right at you, UCLA.